Shima Sakon (1540-1600) was a late Sengoku-period samurai who is remembered for leading the armies of his Lord Ishida Mitsunari (1559-1600) against the future shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Though the exact circumstances of his death are uncertain, it is thought he died soon after the battle of gunshot wounds he received during the fighting.

Here Yoshitoshi presents an unflinching image of an enraged Sakon pressing forward, his face contorted, his bloody hand raised above his head in a rallying gesture and his likewise bloody long tachi sword piercing the outline of the composition as he lunges to the left. Above, hurtling through the air, the severed head of Saito Daihachi hovers above a thick plume of smoke.